


Jenny Flint I'm Literally Begging You To Dump Your Terrible Wife

by IntergalacticCrime



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/F, major heritage 4 spoilers, vastra faces just one consequence for being a horrible wife
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:01:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27289822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IntergalacticCrime/pseuds/IntergalacticCrime
Summary: Jenny needs closure and vastra needs to experience at least one fucking consequence
Relationships: Jenny Flint & Stonn, Jenny Flint & The Bloomsbury Bunch, Jenny Flint & Tom Foster, Jenny Flint & Vella, Jenny Flint/Madame Vastra
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

"I was thinking about going away," said Jenny, apropos of nothing. Recently she'd only really spoken to Vastra while occupied with another task, like washing dishes or folding linen. Anything where she had an excuse not to look at her too much or for too long.

"Oh? Where?"

"Last I heard Tom and his lot are still in Germany."

Cautiously Vastra approached. It felt all too like their first days together, a lack of familiarity and a lot of trepidation. "My love, after all we've been through do you not think it best to stay here, at home?"

"And you're welcome to do that."

"What?"

"I'd be going on my own."

_Ah_. Vastra busied herself with a teacup and saucer. "I see... You've already made the arrangements haven't you?"

Jenny finally made eye contact, she was tense but calm. All Vastra wanted to do was hug her but that felt like too much too soon. "The other day. The boat leaves tomorrow morning."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"Do you really want to start that with meabout not telling each other things?"

"Jenny I-"

She held up her hand, stopping the argument before it could start. "I don't think being so close is good for us right now."

"We were apart for a month!" she all but pleaded.

"Because you hired a hit on me!"

Vastra recoiled, knocking the teacup off the saucer staining the table with the last dregs of liquid. They'd just varnished it too. "Jenny..."

"And I know you weren't yourself but ma'am, but you lied to me and you broke your promise and you and that Edith-"

"Nothing happened."

"I know, but you didn't exactly put me at ease now did you?"

"She broke in!"

"So did I and look what happened to us!"

"You think I'm so easily swayed by a pretty face and a criminal streak?" she spat, offended.

"I never said she was pretty." Jenny had remained relatively calm.

"Well," she searched for a petty defence, "you wanted to see the mermaid."

"You can't compare your world-ending accomplice to me indulging in a childhood fancy."

"I know." She stopped being able to look at Jenny and was beyond the point of being able to feel shame at the weakness in her voice. "Do you really need to go?"

She approached her as she would have any other day before, which given the circumstances was uniquely unnerving. She held her face in her hand making her look at her before sitting in her lap and letting her hold on. She kissed the top of her head and stroked down her back before talking again. "Vastra, I love you, but god you made it hard."

"I don't know what I can do except apologise," she said with her voice slightly muffled by her head being on Jenny's chest. Her heartbeat was strong and even. If she was counting correctly it was three times now that she'd lost Jenny.

"I need time. Right now it's all so... fresh."

"Have I ruined everything?"

"I was worried you were going to."

"Will you write? I'll worry."

"Only if you write back."

"Will you be gone long?"

"I don't know."

"Have I really driven my wife out of the country?" Any other day that would have been a joke. Jenny didn't laugh. "Will you let Strax and I take you to the docks?"

"I'll need help with my luggage."


	2. Chapter 2

Tom rocked on his feet at the port. His swaying was annoying in the peripheral vision of the other members of the trio and only served to replace the sense of a ticking clock in a too-quiet room.

"Where is she do you think?"

"How could I possibly know?"

"Do you think she's here already? Will she see us?"

"Tom I'm tall and wearing a veil, I'm the only thing she will see."

Stonn laughed and only stopped at the half hearted hard look from Tom. Half hearted only because he also found it funny but if he understood what had happened from what Vella told him, he felt like Jenny probably didn't need anyone laughing at her expense regardless of whether she was there for it or not. He was trying to do better after all.

"I'm worried. It doesn't seem like her, coming all this way all alone."

"Things must be bad if she asked to stay with us."

Tom didn't mention that it was him who gave her an open invitation should she have needed it.

"Promise me now you two. Promise you'll be nice to her."

"I saved her life, I can't get much nicer."

Before he could explain that while saving someone from certain doom was definitely a positive gesture it wasn't an adequate replacement for good manners he saw her. "Jenny!"

"Alright Tom, Stonn. Nice to see you againVella." Her usual vim and vigor was present but clearly artificial. Tom was concerned by the pallor of her skin and the dark circles around her eyes. If not for the accent he might not have even recognised her under all that gloom.

"You look well," he lied.

"No you don't," said Vella, offering a hand to take one of her bags. Ordinarily she wouldn't have been so courteous but she really did not look well. Jenny accepted the offer and thanked her before taking Tom's lead towards a carriage. Vella immediately found herself working very hard not to lag behind with the weight of the suitcase. It didn't look heavy when Jenny was carrying it and she had _two_.

"How was the trip? I trust you didn't get into too much trouble on board."

"You know me, I like to keep my head down."

"You'll fit right in then." He was trying very hard to be chipper and she appreciated it even if it wasn't working on her.

"D'you mind if I just turn in when we get back to yours? It's been a long day."

Unexpectedly it was Vella who spoke next, cutting Tom off before he could answer. "You need to eat first girl," she said, the performance of her gruffness betraying the fact that, not very deep down, she'd gotten to quite like Jenny. However, it did help disguise the slight strain in her voice from the weight of her luggage.  
  


"She does have a point you know," Tom agreed.

The only one of them who hadn't said anything was Stonn, who was busy rolling his eyes at the whole affair. Sontarans were not typically known for their imagination but he liked to think that he was an exception to that rule and yet even he could not fathom a situation where their situations would be reversed. He couldn't even muster the image of Tom needing a break from him so badly that he took board in Paternoster Row.

Tom watched her in the carriage. He'd never really though about it before but she really was rather pretty, not his type of course but he understood the appeal. "Jenny-"

"Can you wait until we're at yours before you ask me how I am?"

Vella had been watching her too. She made no secret of it with her damn veil off and the squinting look. After getting to know Jenny for a month as her jailer she'd gotten a rough idea of her, but this was an unfamiliar expression. She'd seen her sad and mourning, she'd definitely seen her angry. Very angry. But this was pure melancholy and it didn't look good on her. "You can't avoid talking about it forever."

"You were there, you know why I might want to try."

Vella hissed. "Put it off for as long as you like, it will only make things worse for you. I'm sure your mistress will be eager for you to come home."

"She ain't my mistress."

"A testament to your commitment to the act."

"Vella!" chastised Tom. "If you must start an argument with Jenny can it wait until we're out of the carriage?"

"We aren't arguing."

"She's trying to help. I think. She's just not doing a good job of it."

Jenny was right. Despite their uneasy beginnings in the basement of the print shop Vella had developed a soft spot for her. "Did Vastra always like you?"

Her tone was much more conversational than critical this time, so she deigned to answer. "No, she didn't."

"Did you always like her?" Tom asked before Vella could follow up with the same question.

She smiled at the memories. There was a time when they had very few nice words for each other. "Not at all."

"Really?" He was surprised, honestly. They were _very_ married.

"I was never meant to stay as long as I did, let alone end up marrying her."

"What happened?"

"Force two people in the same place eventually they're gonna start talking. Turned out that there was something to like underneath all that snobbery." Vella scoffed. "I know you're going to make me have this conversation but I was hoping you'd at least give me a day."

"Let her sulk," Stonn said finally. "Our base is far. We can force the human to talk when I am otherwise occupied."

"Don't be rude old chap."

Jenny ignored him but was grateful. The carriage wasn't nearly as nice as theirs back home. She missed the plush walls and decent suspension, her temple whacked against the hard side with every crack and pebble underneath before deciding there was no hope for any rest. When had she become so accustomed to comfort and luxury? Perhaps she hadn't and what she'd really become accustomed to was a partner to fall asleep against.

"How can I send a letter? Ma'am will want to know I arrived safely." Vella chose, this time, not to rib her over 'ma'am'."

"Stonn has business in town tomorrow, he can take it in the morning."

"I will?" he said, clearly a question and offended at Tom's volunteering of him.

"Capital, I knew you wouldn't mind." He smiled at him sweetly.

Stonn huffed but argued no more. "You did that deliberately."

"You were going anyway."  
  
Stonn wasn't lying about it being a long journey from the docks to where they were staying. A modest abode on the furthest edge of town. Tom and Stonn saw fit to leave her alone with Vella to unpack in the guest room.

"Did you end up getting rid of that thing?" Jenny asked while she hung clothes.

"The ossuary?" Vella began, not looking up from her task at hand (Tom had asked her to put linen on the bed but she put it off until the last moment). "No, Stonn has figured out a way to monetize it."

"Vella!"

"Goodness you're sharp." Vella winced at the high pitch of her voice and the edge in her accent. It was on the verge of only being audible to dogs. "I was joking. The ocean's pressure will have reduced it to dust already."

"That wasn't funny."

"It would have been if you hadn't deafened me." She gave her a hard look. "That might work on your madame but I am not so invested in your good mood."

"Nor is she."

Vella rolled her eyes. "When you are ready to talk and not just make snide comments, Tom Foster will make time for you."

"Has he volunteered or have you volunteered him?"

"For whatever reason he considers you a friend, which means Stonn and I must too. He is still undecided as to whether or not he likes you."

"And you?"

"I have a begrudging respect for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had some really thoughtful things to say but ive forgotten them anyway heritage 4 was so rough

**Author's Note:**

> i reckon i can finish this pretty quickly i havent forgotten about its not easy thats still my baby but that takes a lot of effort and right now im fueled by a powerful vastra hatred and need jenny to just have a nice time in germany with the bunch
> 
> i posted this chapter in unconnected to hold my accountable and now ive done loads more


End file.
